Bluetooth

Turtle Beach has made strides over the past few years, becoming a force in the gaming industry. Once best-known for its sound cards, the company has recently built a reputation on its headsets. The Ear Force series has won gamers over with crystal clear sound and a ridiculous feature sets that included wireless surround sound and programmable audio presets. The products are Swiss Army Knives of audio, offering everything players’ ears could need.

But for all the tech packed into Turtle Beach devices, they were always lacking in the design and comfort end. The team there created one of the best headsets in the industry, but it was something relegated to the living room. No one would conceivable wear the Ear Force PX5 on the street. They’d just look awkward and after a while the cans would feel heavy on the head. And that was a shame because the headset featured great sound and a Bluetooth connection that lets users listen to music wirelessly via their smartphone.

It’s a case of great tech that needed more mass market appeal, and finally, Turtle Beach has made that jump with the iSeries line. I’ve been using the i30 over the past few weeks. Ideally, they’re targeted toward Apple devices, but they also work for Android smartphones and even the PlayStation 4 (if you use the wired headjack input on the DualShock4).

One piece of swag from the Konami event was this Metal Gear Solid 4 Bluetooth headset. I finally got around to opening it up today. I found two earpieces. Woohoo. Unfortunately, there was no USB cord to charge them. D’oh. Sadness to follow.